Question

[prunus]

Can someone explain to me why GCA can be called "a stroke in the eye"?

[Telian]

Because that's what it is, a bleed that if uncontrolled will cause blindness. I'm no expert on medical explanations but a stroke is a bleed. PMRpro will be along soon....

[prunus in reply to Telian]

Thanks for taking the time to reply to me.

[Telian in reply to prunus]

...or DL..

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer]

When a blood vessel narrows or get blocked by a blood clot, the blood supply is cut off. The affected area can suffer serious damage, known as a stroke. In the case of an eye stroke, the blockage affects the retina. The retina is the thin film that lines the inner surface of the back of your eye.

In the case of GCA - which is classified as a large-vessel vasculitis but typically also involves medium and small arteries, particularly the superficial temporal artery (hence the term temporal arteritis). In addition, GCA most commonly affects the ophthalmic, occipital, vertebral, posterior ciliary, and proximal vertebral arteries. As far as I’m aware it doesn’t usually affect the vessels within the eye itself, just those that supply blood to the eye. Medium- and large-sized vessels that may be involved include the aorta and the carotid, subclavian, and iliac artery.

[prunus in reply to DorsetLady]

Very much appreciated what you had to tell me about it. I am learning all the time. I had the biopsy, which confirmed my GCA, but like Prof. Baskar Dasgupta said at the pmrgca AGM that can only be done once. Not only that, in my particular case it left me with problems of "shadowing" when I had to have the cataract removed due to the predislone. I blamed the biopsy because my other eye did not have the problem although that cataract was also removed. I think the idea of non invasive ultra sound a much better option. Many thanks for sharing your knowledge.

[PMRpro Ambassador]

There are two sorts of stroke - one due to bleeding which exerts pressure on the brain and damages it and one due to the interuption of the blood supply to the brain which starves the area the other side of the blockage of oxygen, also causing damage so the nerves die off.

In GCA the blood supply in the smaller arteries in the back of the brain are affected and the blood flow slows and may even be stopped altogether - and they supply the optic nerve and the area of the brain that interprets the signals sent from the retina. If the lack of blood flow is bad enough or for long enough the optic nerve is damaged so much it doesn't recover.

The arteries involved in visual loss in GCA are not necessarily the temporal artery - it is used because it is often (not always) involved in GCA and you can manage without it as other arteries take over the job it did.

I understand that GCA CAN affect the blood supply to the retina but it is very unusual.

[prunus in reply to PMRpro]

Many thanks for your reply. I have down-loaded it and will keep it for reference.

[Atracta]

I had a very large bleed in the eye a couple of weeks ago and went straight to the opticions, she checked it over and asked me if I was on blood thinning tablets, and she said thats what it is. It did go after a couple of days. After hearing this I will keep my eye!! on it. I have got GCA.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Atracta]

There is a big difference between a conjunctival bleed which you can see in the mirror and a retinal bleed which you can't.

[Atracta in reply to PMRpro]

Thanks for that, learning all the time, This is sucha helpful forum.